Thursday, 9/5, I went to work in the morning. We were having some work done at the house in the afternoon. So I planned to go home during lunch to let the guys in. Around 9:00am I received a call from Melissa that her muffler sounded like it had fallen off and was dragging on the road. This happened on the way to the doctors for her weekly ultrasound. I immediately left work to pick her up and then from there she took me back to work and headed to the doctors. I then needed to coordinate the workers coming to the house. Big problem is Melissa now had both sets of keys to the house so I couldn't even let them in. I figured Melissa would be done at the doctor in time to be back home to let them in. I decided to get a hold of the landlord and explain the situation. He luckily had an extra key and was able to get it to one of the workers that was coming out to the house. That was all good, but still one problem. The dogs... So I called up Aunt Cyndi and asked her to meet the guy at the house. He would unlock the door and she could then wrangle up the dogs and watch them until Melissa returned home.
At 11:20am I received a call from Melissa. The doctor decided she needed to be admitted and this time it would be until the baby was delivered. This was all happening so fast and with everything else going on that morning it was difficult to remain sane. I then called my stepmom to come and pick me up from work. She showed up and we went back to the house to check in on the dogs and the workers. Everything was going just fine so I packed a bag for Melissa and we headed to the hospital. Upon arriving we learned some more of the situation. The amniotic fluid was lower than before and the cord blood flow was absent. They said they would give her another shot of steroids like last time. That seemed to help improve the fluid and flow before. So it was a wait and see situation. During the day we hung out in the room and watched TV and tried to lighten the mood as best as we could. I returned home later that night to be with the dogs to provide them some normalcy. The next morning I woke up and went to work for half a day. Nikki came up to the hospital to be with Melissa until I got there. I went home around noon to let the dogs out and was up at the hospital by 2:00. We then learned that the shot of steroids did not help improve the fluid or cord blood flow. The doctors said delivery was scheduled for Monday morning, 9/9. This was it, the moment we've been waiting for. It was just happening way earlier then expected. I was ok with hearing that and knew I had a few days to prepare. That evening Lisa and Amanda came up to visit. Amanda brought her camera so that we could have some maternity photos taken before the baby came. We actually had a maternity photo shoot scheduled for the following Sunday, but that wasn't happening. Thinking back if she didn't come take those photos we would of never captured that moment.
That night I again returned home to be with the dogs. I decided to drink a few beers to help me fall asleep. Around 2:30am I finally passed out. At 4:20am on 9/7 I was woken up to the sounds of sirens and alarms. I had set my phone so that if Melissa called a special ring tone went off. I sprung out of bed and answered the phone. She said the doctors came in and recommended I come to the hospital. Over the night the baby had some heart decelerations that he did not recover from quickly. I rushed out of the house and sped to the hospital. Since it was so early in the morning the roads were all clear and I got there as quickly as possible. I had to enter through the ER since the main entrance was closed. I ran up to Melissa's room and the doctors and nurses where in there performing an ultrasound. The baby only scored a 4/8 on the bio-physical-profile. It was then decided that the baby was coming out now. The doctors said the baby seems to be in distress. There was a woman currently in labor and when she was done Melissa would be prepped for a caesarian section. I still wasn't fully awake. From the few beers I just finished drinking a couple hours ago, and the few hours I got of sleep. I was pretty distraught. I asked the nurses if I had time to run out and get some Starbucks and they told me I did. So I rushed out and came right back. By then it was GO!. I had to put on my scrubs and Melissa was all prepped. They whisked her away as I followed behind. I had to wait out in the hall way while they took her into the operating room. They told me they would bring me in once she was prepped. I sat there freaking the F out. The starbucks was kicking in and I was finally waking up, realizing that this was it. I had to really calm myself down because I was a wreck. Trish, our midwife who just happened to be on-call that shift showed up. She calmed me down and told me everything would be ok. Shortly after a nurse came out and brought me in to the room. I sat down and held Melissa's hand while trying to remain strong. There were so many doctors and nurses in the room. It seemed like the entire staff on the floor was in the room with us. We knew this was a high risk pregnancy and just were hoping for the best.
At 7:02am, Emerson Robert Goulet came in to this world kicking and whimpering. He weighed 2 pounds, 12 ounces and was 16 inches long. Hearing the sound of him crying was the biggest relief I've ever felt. We sat there crying with joy. We got a little peek of him and then they took him over to the NICU. I soon followed them over there. He was immediately making suckling actions with his mouth and when the nurse stuck her finger in, he latched right on. This was a big deal considering he has Down syndrome. Most babies born with that have issues with latching and suckling due to low muscle tone.
Over and over the nurses repeatedly said Emerson was doing really great. He didn't need to be put on the ventilator and was breathing well on his own. The only thing he really needed was just a little oxygen. By 9:00pm he had already peed and pooped and these were great signs that he didn't have any digestive issues which again can be a common problem.
Later we learned from Dr. Davinson, whom delivered Emerson, that he was born "en-caul". This is a rare type of delivery where the baby is still in the amniotic sac. The baby doesn't even realize it has come out of the womb so there is no stress. There are superstitions that surround being born "en-caul". They say these people are known as Caulbearers and they can have special spiritual powers. I googled it and it was pretty interesting to learn about this.
At 11:20am I received a call from Melissa. The doctor decided she needed to be admitted and this time it would be until the baby was delivered. This was all happening so fast and with everything else going on that morning it was difficult to remain sane. I then called my stepmom to come and pick me up from work. She showed up and we went back to the house to check in on the dogs and the workers. Everything was going just fine so I packed a bag for Melissa and we headed to the hospital. Upon arriving we learned some more of the situation. The amniotic fluid was lower than before and the cord blood flow was absent. They said they would give her another shot of steroids like last time. That seemed to help improve the fluid and flow before. So it was a wait and see situation. During the day we hung out in the room and watched TV and tried to lighten the mood as best as we could. I returned home later that night to be with the dogs to provide them some normalcy. The next morning I woke up and went to work for half a day. Nikki came up to the hospital to be with Melissa until I got there. I went home around noon to let the dogs out and was up at the hospital by 2:00. We then learned that the shot of steroids did not help improve the fluid or cord blood flow. The doctors said delivery was scheduled for Monday morning, 9/9. This was it, the moment we've been waiting for. It was just happening way earlier then expected. I was ok with hearing that and knew I had a few days to prepare. That evening Lisa and Amanda came up to visit. Amanda brought her camera so that we could have some maternity photos taken before the baby came. We actually had a maternity photo shoot scheduled for the following Sunday, but that wasn't happening. Thinking back if she didn't come take those photos we would of never captured that moment.
That night I again returned home to be with the dogs. I decided to drink a few beers to help me fall asleep. Around 2:30am I finally passed out. At 4:20am on 9/7 I was woken up to the sounds of sirens and alarms. I had set my phone so that if Melissa called a special ring tone went off. I sprung out of bed and answered the phone. She said the doctors came in and recommended I come to the hospital. Over the night the baby had some heart decelerations that he did not recover from quickly. I rushed out of the house and sped to the hospital. Since it was so early in the morning the roads were all clear and I got there as quickly as possible. I had to enter through the ER since the main entrance was closed. I ran up to Melissa's room and the doctors and nurses where in there performing an ultrasound. The baby only scored a 4/8 on the bio-physical-profile. It was then decided that the baby was coming out now. The doctors said the baby seems to be in distress. There was a woman currently in labor and when she was done Melissa would be prepped for a caesarian section. I still wasn't fully awake. From the few beers I just finished drinking a couple hours ago, and the few hours I got of sleep. I was pretty distraught. I asked the nurses if I had time to run out and get some Starbucks and they told me I did. So I rushed out and came right back. By then it was GO!. I had to put on my scrubs and Melissa was all prepped. They whisked her away as I followed behind. I had to wait out in the hall way while they took her into the operating room. They told me they would bring me in once she was prepped. I sat there freaking the F out. The starbucks was kicking in and I was finally waking up, realizing that this was it. I had to really calm myself down because I was a wreck. Trish, our midwife who just happened to be on-call that shift showed up. She calmed me down and told me everything would be ok. Shortly after a nurse came out and brought me in to the room. I sat down and held Melissa's hand while trying to remain strong. There were so many doctors and nurses in the room. It seemed like the entire staff on the floor was in the room with us. We knew this was a high risk pregnancy and just were hoping for the best.
At 7:02am, Emerson Robert Goulet came in to this world kicking and whimpering. He weighed 2 pounds, 12 ounces and was 16 inches long. Hearing the sound of him crying was the biggest relief I've ever felt. We sat there crying with joy. We got a little peek of him and then they took him over to the NICU. I soon followed them over there. He was immediately making suckling actions with his mouth and when the nurse stuck her finger in, he latched right on. This was a big deal considering he has Down syndrome. Most babies born with that have issues with latching and suckling due to low muscle tone.
Over and over the nurses repeatedly said Emerson was doing really great. He didn't need to be put on the ventilator and was breathing well on his own. The only thing he really needed was just a little oxygen. By 9:00pm he had already peed and pooped and these were great signs that he didn't have any digestive issues which again can be a common problem.
Later we learned from Dr. Davinson, whom delivered Emerson, that he was born "en-caul". This is a rare type of delivery where the baby is still in the amniotic sac. The baby doesn't even realize it has come out of the womb so there is no stress. There are superstitions that surround being born "en-caul". They say these people are known as Caulbearers and they can have special spiritual powers. I googled it and it was pretty interesting to learn about this.
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